


Initium Novum

by Redstar95



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avengers Family, Domestic Avengers, F/M, Gen, M/M, Marvel Universe, Nightmares, Past Character Death, Past Child Abuse, Post-Avengers (2012), Superfamily, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 10:25:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16366124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redstar95/pseuds/Redstar95
Summary: When raiding a new Hydra base the Avengers come across two young assassins who both posses abilities caused by forced mutation. Tony and Pepper taken them under their wing and with the help of the rest of the Avengers start to build a family for the two assassins.





	1. Wait, who are they?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is my first story on here and please let me know if you enjoy it/ anywhere I can change and improve on!

Whose idea was it to come here again” called Clint as he fired arrows at the HYDRA goons that were running at the other Avenger’s in the main hall  
“Steve’s” replied Natasha on the comms ducking out of the way of a goon and throwing a knife into his side with ease  
“Why” asked Clint firing an arrow behind Natasha as she made her way forward  
“Do you even listen in briefing Barton” Tony snapped as he flew past them in the Iron Suit  
“Well you tell me Stark” Clint stood from where he was placed looking down on the fight to check if there was anyone else he could take out before jumping down to join Natasha “you can stay awake to listen to Captain’s awe inspiring speeches followed by Ross’ mind numbing brief”  
“I can because I am an adult” Tony snipped back firing his repulsors at a HYDRA goon behind Clint  
“You sure Stark?” asked Clint and Tony fired his repulsors at Clint instead in annoyance.  
“You guys cleared that out yet” shouted Steve down the comms sounding quite strained  
“Pretty much Cap” replied Tony “How’s your search with Buckaroo?"  
“Shit”  
“Language” Clint and Sam replied at the same time and Tony could practically hear the eye roll from Steve  
“No we can’t find the weapon anywhere” he said sounding more frustrated than he did a minute ago  
“You sure there’s even a weapon” asked Natasha as she took out another goon easily with a hit to their face using her taser.  
“According to Bucky” Steve replied  
“There is” Bucky now joining In with the conversation “they were working on it when I was here it was all they talked about, though it was several years ago"  
“must be some weapon” commented Sam “if they feel like they need this much protection”  
“Must be” echoed Tony firing one more repulsors and jumping back into the main fight 

Peter was sat on the ceiling of his room, if you could call it a room, waiting. He could hear the fight up in the main hall but had yet to be released from the room. He was dressed in his black suit and seemed quite ready to go when finally Doctor Larson walked in  
“Get down from there pauk” he called and Peter dropped from the ceiling  
“What’s going on?” he asked the Doctor who pushed him onto the bed before injecting him with something that was coloured a light blue  
“Avengers” the Doctor sounded quite bored with it and passed Peter his suit “you need to go out there Pauk and end them”  
“Kill” Peter said and the Doctor nodded  
“I’ve injected you with more healing factor in case you get hit you and Feniks are my assets” he said as Peter changed quickly into his black suit covered in silver webs “you need to take out the big ones” he said gesturing for Peter follow which he did. They collected a red haired girl who Peter knew was called Lizzie but they called her Feniks like they called him pauk. She was the only one that had survived the 10 years of training they had when they both arrived aged 5. Peter doesn’t remember having parents or a family and Lizzie was as close as it got  
“Doctor, Pauk” she greeted them with her Doctor. Lizzie was dressed in a black cat suit and had silver decorated over the arms and legs  
“You know the plan from when you two have trained together” Doctor Larson said and they nodded “take down the big ones with your brain and not brawn”  
“Pauk is to be the muscle and aim for the smaller members of the team, Feniks you go for the big ones” explained Lizzie’s doctor. They stopped outside the lift which would take them up from the cells to the main fighting hall  
“Remember assets. Complete the mission successfully we will reward you. If not it’s time for another memory wipe” warned Doctor Larson and they nodded climbing into the lift “good luck”. Peter and Lizzie looked at each other before pulling on their comms and masks  
“You call me if you need help Feniks” he said and she rolled her eyes  
“You will be the one calling for me Pauk” the elevator stopped and she stepped out "udachi” she called and disappeared to the left 

Bucky turned around the first empty corridor and cursed silently. So far his and Steve’s search of the rooms and corridors away from the main prescient had been useless. All they had found was notes on Bucky and former goons but nothing on the so called weapon. Bucky cast his mind back to being trapped here but could only remember snippets of his time here. He remembered training the new winter soldiers but nothing else. He walked down the next corridor and spoke to Steve  
“Got anything?” he asked  
“Nothing” Steve replied sounding frustrated and Bucky couldn’t blame him “are you sure they’re working on something?” he asked and Bucky was quiet for a minute  
“Positive” he said as he made his way towards the second corridor that branched off down towards the lab area. Bucky paused when the lift dinged and he heard footsteps. He peered carefully around the corner and saw a girl walking down the corridor. Red hair was a in a bun on her head and she held a long sword in her hand. Bucky aimed his gun and shot at her and she ducked out of the way with ease before swapping her sword for a dagger throwing it making Bucky roll out of the way “I’ve got a goon” he called on the comms ducking as she swung a fist at him and he dodged throwing one in return. They battled fist to fist until she backed him into a wall  
“I’m a goon now huh?” she said pulling her mask off with a smile and Bucky’s mouth dropped “Hello Barnes” Lizzie greeted  
“Liz” he whispered and she scowled “oh not your name anymore?” he asked  
‘Feniks’ her voice came from inside his head and he nodded taking into account here eyes were glowing a bright gold.  
“You’re enhanced now?” he asked and she nodded  
“Mind, body and force” she said smugly and he nodded catching Steve walking slowly up to them  
“So this weapon Feniks?” he asked and she looked surprised and puzzled  
“What weapon?” she asked  
“You know the one they’ve been working on?” and Lizzie looked puzzled. Bucky took the time to grab onto her arm with his metal and swung her into the wall pinning her “you seem to have forgotten my lessons Feniks” he said before knocking her out with a blow to the head.  
“Who is she?” asked Steve looking at the girl now in Bucky’s arms  
“Lizzie aka Feniks” Bucky hauled the girl over his shoulder “former protégée that I had here, there was her and a boy called Peter”  
“Tony have you had any enhanced join the fight with you?” asked Steve  
“You mean the weirdo who can shoot webs? Yeah we got one” Clint replied for him  
“We better get up there” 

Peter dodged out of the way of the repulsors beams with a roll of his eyes  
“Earth’s mightiest heroes and you can’t even seem to aim properly” he sassed moving almost bored out of the way of one of the arrows that was sent to him by the blonde guy  
“Can I kill him Buck” the arrow guy asked  
“No! Knock him out” the other replied on the comms  
“Bucky? As in Bucky Barnes?” Peter asked with a laugh “oh you guys are more shit than I thought if you have an old HYDRA soldier fighting for you”  
“Can you hear everything” asked the one in the Iron suit and Peter nodded  
“Everything old man” he jumped at the suit firing some of his webs at him that the Iron man tried to shoot at and blew his webs with the repulsors and Peter cursed. Larson said he was making them to a better strength but obviously he had lied. Peter dodged out of the way at the mixture of arrows and bullets shot at him to stand on the roof  
“How the fuck do you that” asked the one with wings and Peter shrugged  
“Woke up one day and I could” he said firing a web at the wings making them get tangled to the wall. Barnes and Captain American walked in with Lizzie over Barnes’ shoulder. “What the hell have you done to her” he demanded shooting webs and Barnes rolled his eyes  
“Get down here Peter”  
“My name isn’t Peter” he snapped back and Barnes let out a laugh  
“Please don’t tell me it’s Pauk” and Peter nodded “they’re real creative with their names here” Bucky fired the gun at Peter and he dropped to the floor. Then the red head attacked from the side and Peter for the first time froze. Black Widow had been famed about before and Barnes had often spoken about her power and strength. Peter had always respected her out of the Avengers so when she lunged at him he wasn’t sure what to do letting her strike him to the ground  
“Now Stark” the one in with wings called and the last thing Peter saw was the light of beam before everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony deactivated his armour and looked down at the kids that were now in front of him. “Nice hit Stark” Sam complimented as he landed next to Clint “who we got here?” Tony bent down and pulled off the masks of the two in front of him. The boy had brown fluffy hair and the girl had ginger like Natasha’s that had been pulled into a bun, Tony’s first thought was how young the two looked.

“Lizzie and Peter” Bucky said coming over “I trained them when I was here as the Winter Solider, they are incredible fighters”

“How old are they?” Clint asked the question that everyone was thinking. He was bending down next to them to look over them and shared a look with Natasha

“They’re probably no more than 15” said Bucky and the Avengers all looked at him horrified

"How long have they been training” asked Steve “since birth?”

“Oh no” Bucky said “they were part of the orphan program, they were watched from a distance and their parents were then killed and they were taken a few months later”

“What the fuck?” hissed Tony horrified “these poor kids”

“What are we going to do with them?” asked Natasha as they looked over them

“Well I think first we need to get their wounds seen to and some normal clothes Barnes will they have any belongings” asked Tony and Bucky shook his head

“You don’t have belongings here” he said flatly and Tony nodded

“Since 5 Jesus” he whispered before stepping back into the suit and calling for Friday to send over the Quinjet to take them to the compound. They loaded the kids on and strapped the girl down using normal ties but clipped the boy with metal as Bucky commented on his strength remembering having trained with him and how powerful he was “He once threw a guy through a wall” he said to Tony. Bucky then stood over the two of them for the whole ride home. Tony watched letting Clint and Sam fly them home. Natasha was sat reading in the corner of the Quinjet and Steve slowly walked over to Tony and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder

“It’s so fucked up Steve” he mumbled and Steve mumbled an agreement “I mean my Dad was dick but at least I had a mom but even these guys didn’t even have that”

“See why I hate HYDRA now?” Steve asked and Tony nodded “What’s the plan for these two when we get back?”

“I suppose we are going to need to question them see what they know about this weapon” Tony said “see if we can get some of this hail HYDRA nonsense out of their heads” “You going to use the old Loki hold?” asked Steve and Tony nodded glad he had one similar to the one they held Loki in built into the compound. “We’ve only seen a bit of what these two can do I don’t want to risk anything before we know everything about them”

“Good idea” Natasha said coming over to them

“The boy stopped fighting when he saw you” Steve pointed out to her and she nodded grimly “did you ever meet them?”

“No but they must remember the stories from Bucky” they looked over to where Bucky was pacing over in front of them

“He’s going to make a hole in the floor at the rate he’s going” Tony commented to Steve and Steve sighed but went over placing a hand gently on his shoulder before whispering into his ear. Bucky seemed to relax ever so slightly under the touch before allowing Steve to lead him out and away from the kids. Tony watched them go and was aware of Natasha staring into the back of his head

“What?” he finally asked

“Nothing” she replied

“Must be something Romanoff”

“Just thinking about Pepper’s reaction to this” she said and Tony groaned

“Urgh, I know she’s not going to be happy” he ran his hand through his hair in annoyance

"I'm sure you will think of something" Natasha smiled as she walked back to the front of the jet "you've always thought fast on your feet!" she called as she went and Tony glared after her.

Peter came to with a groan. He placed a hand to his head and felt a bandage which surprised him. Normally they use to just let his healing power heal anything up. Peter sat up slowly and realised he was not in his room at HYDRA. He was sat in a room made up of glass. He was at on a single bed in the corner. A table and chair were in the middle of the room along with a toilet area. He looked across and Lizzie was sat on the floor looking through the glass straight at him. He scampered across and waved at her at the same time. She smiled and waved back “Where are we” he asked and she cocked her head to the side “Can you hear me?” she shook her head and Peter sighed . He sat facing her for a few minutes and they tapped on the glass wall to each other using morse code to talk. Peter even tried to see if she could read his mind and though her eyes glowed gold she shook her head and they realised that wasn’t possible either. A few minutes passed and when Peter was starting to feel like climbing into the bed in the corner and going to sleep, they heard a sound of a door opening. They both looked up when two people walked in. Black Widow and Hawkeye. They stood outside the doors. There was a static noise and then finally sound “Right Pauk and Feniks I’m Hawkeye and this is" Hawkeye introduced

“Black Widow” answered Lizzie “also known as Natasha Romanoff, Barnes used to tell us stories about you and we know who you are Clint Barton” she said with a small smile. Peter grinned watching as the spies opposite now looked wary of them. They spent many hours going through the Avengers files back in the base with the doctors looking for ways to beat them using their powers. 

“What are your thoughts on HYDRA?” asked Natasha gazing at Peter intensely 

“Hail HYDRA” Peter responded confidently 

“They’re the only thing we know since our parents abandoned us. In a weird way they are family” Lizzie stated 

“You do know they are Nazi’s right? Clint said

“What’s a Nazi?” Peter asked and Natasha and Clint shared a worried look

“Someone will come in with clean clothes and food within the hour” said Natasha and the static noise sounded again and they left the room. 

"That was weird" Peter commented sitting down opposite Lizzie again and she furrowed her eyebrows in response 

 **Their blocking the communication some how**   Peter tapped out and Lizzie looked around the room before her eyes lit up and faulted

 **It's outside the room** she said slowly and Peter read her lips and looked over to the control panel that was outside the holding cells

"Damn it" he muttered and she nodded in agreement. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pauk- Russian for Spider  
> Feniks- Russian for Phoenix


	3. Chapter 3

"Since when did we start to run a home for wayward super soldiers?" Bruce made Tony jump as he watched the kids eat their breakfast, they were sat on the floor tapping on the glass to each other. 

"Geez Bruce, warn a guy" Tony muttered "these aren't super soldiers" he stated gesturing at the two of them "Barnes claims they've had their genes mutated like you" 

"They turn green too?" Bruce asked and Tony sighed 

"Still just you big guy, Friday bring up the footage from the other night please?" he requested from the AI and a blue hologram appeared in front of them and showed the footage of Tony fighting with Peter 

"How is he sticking to the ceiling?" Bruce asked looking slightly horrified as Peter shot webbing out at Sam. 

"I'm not entirely sure" Tony said "the girl's weird too, can read minds apparently" 

"Like Wanda" Bruce said and Tony nodded "might be worth asking her opinion about the girl" 

"Lizzie" Tony said "their names are Peter and Lizzie" 

"Sorry, Lizzie might like to meet someone like her as well" and Tony nodded "when's Pepper coming up to see you?" 

"Tonight, I spoke to her this morning, she's not impressed" 

"Well you did take in two super teens" Bruce pointed out before watching the footage of Peter again "we could do with testing their abilities out if their willing" he said and Tony hmmmed in agreement

"Barton and Romanoff went to talk to them last night to see what they are capable of, but all we learnt is that they known who they are" Tony said and Bruce pondered this 

"Did you find the weapon?" he asked after a few minutes of quiet between them two of them 

"Nope, only these two" Tony said as he watched them again this time they were tapping more 

"They're smart" Bruce commented and Tony nodded "Morse code is difficult to learn" 

"I wonder what else they know" Tony muttered more to himself than Bruce as they watched as Lizzie seemed to laugh in response to something that Peter had tapped out to her on the glass. 

"Just be careful" Bruce warned and Tony looked over at him "we got lucky when taking Wanda in and that Barnes has Steve to help him, these two only have each other. It's going to be hard to get them to trust us, especially if all they have known is to hate us" 

"You know me Bruce, careful is my middle name" Tony grinned at him and Bruce rolled his eyes. 

 

* * *

 

Peter's morning had so far been quite dull. They had been woken up when the lights had turned on and had breakfast delivered straight after by someone they didn't recognise. He wasn't up for much of a conversation even though Peter had tried. He had moved his breakfast (porridge with honey) and had ate opposite the glass wall with Lizzie and they returned their trays to the hatch in the wall. He had spent the rest of the morning tapping his foot against the side of the wall when the door had opened and a set of new visitors walked in to see them.

“Barnes and Mr Righteous” Peter shouted when they turned on the communication catching Lizzie's attention “thank you for visiting us," Peter moved to sit in front of them as they stood in front of the holds. Steve in front of his and Bucky by Lizzie's. 

"What brings you here?" Lizzie asked walking over to them. 

“We’re here to tell you about the Nazi’s” said Steve and Lizzie moved to sit closer to where they stood and sat down on the floor.  Peter zoned out as Steve nattered on about them and some guy called Hitler and watched Barnes instead. He remembered Barnes looking after him inside the HYDRA vicinity. He fought for them, got them food and clothes when they needed it, he had protected them from harm and told them all about Black Widow. He was the closet thing they had in their that was family until one day he was gone, abandoned them like their parents had done before. 

“So they’re bad people?” Lizzie asked bringing Peter back to the hold he looked over at her and was surprised she was giving Steve her full attention. 

“Yes, really bad they killed many and performed experiments on you two and Bucky” Steve said he looked hopeful Peter noted. 

“What did you want to see us for Barnes?” Peter asked standing up not really bothered by the story of the Nazi's, who cared if Hydra was evil. It was home.

“I know you two, I know your lives before this everything about” Peter banged he glass interrupting him

“You know nothing”

“Your name is Peter and yours’s is Lizzie. Your parents were killed in car crashes, you grew up as prisoners” Bucky started and Peter snarled

“You’re lying" he turned to Lizzie who was looking unsure, her eyes glowing gold as she stared intently at Bucky "Don't trust them" he warned "even if you could read their minds they would be lying anyway" 

Lizzie shook her head and her eyes went back to blue, she stayed sat on the floor by Bucky was staring at him carefully. Bucky kneeled down in front of the hold and there was a loud buzz "Feniks" Peter called out to her but she couldn't hear him anymore she was listening to Bucky and Steve with wide eyes. Peter started banging on the glass trying to get their attention away from her back to him. Both soldiers gave him a rather unbothered look and after a few minutes Peter let out a shout and moved away from the glass sitting down in the chair in the middle of the room. He glared into the wall opposite until there was another buzz 

"Pauk" Lizzie said gently and he turned to see her still at the front of the glass by Barnes and Rogers "I think you need to listen to what they have to say" Peter groaned. He glared at the two of them, no longer wanting them anywhere near Lizzie. He thought of the only thing he could do to get rid of Barnes. 

“Longing” he hissed and Bucky stared at him with wide eyes “Rusted. Furnace. Daybreak” Bucky ran from the room leaving Steve glaring at him before running out after him and Lizzie looking at him through tearful eyes “Feniks come on” the sound got shut off at this point and she stood and moved away from him keeping her back firmly to him as she climbed onto her bed. 

 

* * *

 

Tony replayed the footage watching it closely with Steve after he had come back up. 

“It’s worrying that he knows Barnes trigger words” Tony said and Steve nodded and Tony rewound the footage back to earlier and watched Lizzie instead “what do you make of the girl”

“Nat said she was having her on yesterday but after now I’m not so sure” Steve said "she listened to every word we said and seemed to dare I say it, believe us"

“Barnes said about them being part of the Orphan program. We could do with accessing those files" he commented looking at Steve who nodded in agreement 

"You want us to head back there to get them?" he asked making to stand but Tony waved a red hard drive at him 

"Already ahead of you Rogers. I may have collected this when we arrived there the other day" he said with a cocky smile and Steve sighed but smiled. "Friday show Lizzie's file" he asked and Friday pulled up the file."She's from Ohio, her parents worked for the government in Education" Tony commented "Anne and Paul Richardson died in a car crash off the A5” he commented “the collision killed their oldest son Matthew but daughter Elizabeth Richardson survived cause of the accident is still unknown” Tony looked at Steve “it matches up” he said as the pictures of Lizzie’s family appeared with clear similarities to her. They then looked at Peter's file "Mary and Richard Parker of Queen's New York" Tony opened the pictures "says that they use to work for the FBI, they died in plane crash on the same day that Lizzie's parents died. This looks like it was planned from the beginning. God Hydra are sick people"

“What should we do next” asked Steve "we've got to get these kids to trust this" 

“Well we no longer send Bucky in until we know that Peter isn’t going to call them words out and I’m going to try something keep watching the monitors Capsicle”

Tony walked down to the hold holding onto the books he had picked up earlier. He walked in the hold and the kids were sat on their beds facing away from each other. He nodded at the camera and the sound switched on. Peter sat up first

“Iron Man?” he asked confused and Lizzie sat up to looking curious

“Yes I’m Iron Man, the one that was in the suit name’s Tony Stark” Tony walked over to Peter’s hatch and posted the book through it and then did the same to Lizzie “I figured you must be getting quite bored” the kids came over and picked up the book 

“How to Kill a Mockingbird” Lizzie read out loud

“It’s a classic. I like to read I thought you might too”

"How do you know that we can eve read" Peter asked rudely

"Well you read all those files about us Spider boy, I imagine you can read a book too. I hope you enjoy it" he left and headed back up to Steve

“You think a book will work?” Steve asked looking skeptical and Tony smiled as he saw both of the kids heads were already buried into the books

"Yeah, I think it will". 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pauk- Russian for Spider  
> Feinks- Russian for Phoenix
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

Tony went back the next day in the morning and Lizzie and Peter were sat facing each other talking

“You forgot to turn the sound off last night” Peter said as Tony walked in and he shrugged

“Figured you would probably want to talk about the book” he said sticking his hands in his pockets “did you enjoy it?” he asked and both of them nodded

“I liked the morals behind it” answered Lizzie “the characters are intriguing” Tony smiled

“It’s one of my favorites” he pressed the button by the main door that opened up the hatches and placed the new books he was holding inside

“The Diary of Anne Frank” Peter read the title looking interested "is this someone's journal?" he asked flicking through the pages

“No, this is a real diary of a young girl who was escaping the Nazi’s in Germany and then Holland" said Tony “you remember who the Nazi’s were right?” he asked and they nodded

“Captain America told us that Hitler was a man who used propaganda and brainwashed the people of German about a truer race and they used this ideology to try and take over the world. They believed if you weren’t of Aryan descent you were unpure” Lizzie summed up in one breath. Tony was impressed she had remembered this all from Cap’s talk the other day not many people were able to sit through his history talks, as like his team talks, they were quite long winded and Tony had switched off many times during them.

“You got it in one Lizzie” he said her name. She seemed unbothered by it and instead thanked Tony for the book and placed How to Kill a Mockingbird in the hatch. Peter on the other hand had looked outraged at Tony calling Lizzie by her name instead of Feniks but when Tony raised an eyebrow at him asking for him to challenge him but Peter didn’t. Instead he copied the red head and swapped his books over “I feel like a librarian all I need is some glasses and a  beige cardigan" and they smirked

“I imagine the library here is much bigger” said Peter and Tony nodded

“The labs are too and the gym and well everything that place you were in”

“What type of labs do you have?” Peter asked interested 

“Nothing like the ones at HYDRA” said Tony firmly not comfortable about sharing about the labs just yet until he felt like he could trust the two

“When’s Barnes going to visit us again” Lizzie asked calmly

“When we know you guys aren’t going to turn him into the winter soldier” said Tony firmly and Peter winced

“I didn’t mean to” he said in a quiet voice “I just wanted him to stop digging about our past in front of Rogers”

“Your past is yours” said Tony gently “when you feel ready you can tell us”. Peter looked at Tony intently and Tony noticed they shared similar colored eyes, though Peter's were a warm chocolate brown to Tony's darker ones. "I'll leave you two to it, i imagine you will have people popping in out to see you though, word has spread around the compound about you" he turned to go

“Tony could you leave the sound on please?” Peter suddenly asked Tony turned to look around at him and Peter was stood with his hands in his pockets whilst Lizzie was already sat on her bed reading “I imagine we might need to talk about this one more than the other book”. Tony nodded in agreement and let the sound on.

* * *

 

 

When he returned back to the conference room Steve and Pepper were sat at the table watching the screens.

“Steve’s just told me everything” she said as Tony sat next to her and looked at Steve who was sat opposite him “What are you going to do with them?” she asked looking worried

“We have two enhanced teenagers, I want them to join the team” Tony said simply and Steve and Pepper stared at him with wide eyes

“Tony, they're teenagers” Pepper said firmly looking at Steve to back her up “they're just kids”

“I’m aware Pep, they’re kids who don’t know nothing but war. They’re children whose parents were killed so they could be turned into weapons and machines for HYDRA” Tony said pointing at the screen. They watched Peter sitting upside down on the ceiling reading the book. Lizzie sat on her bed reading not showing any power “they’re weird like Wanda, so what. If you don’t think that when these two are older they would make excellent additions to the team and have other ideas with what we should do with them please I am all ears” Tony kicked his feet up onto the table and crossed his arms. Both Steve and Pepper watched the kids closely for a couple of minutes. 

“I think with the correct training they could” said Steve quietly and Tony smirked in victory “but before we even let them move into the compound we need to know that we can trust them and they’re not going to hurt Bucky”

“The kid’s already admitted he meant no harm with it. I think we should send in Bucky with Natasha next. Get them to take some cards to play a game with them” Tony said looking at them and neither of them looked thrilled about the idea.

“It sounds risky” said Pepper

"What if they try something?" he asked 

"Well we are monitoring the situation here, they have Romanoff in there with me and from what I remember these kids idolize her so I don't think they're going to say the trigger words" 

"And if they do?" asked Steve 

"Then we need to start thinking of what we could do with them" Tony said with a sigh "Friday call Romanoff and Barnes”

* * *

 

Peter looked up from his book as the door to the hold opened. He was surprised to see Barnes walking in with Natasha. They were dressed in jeans and hoodies instead of their get up they were in last time. Peter liked it, it made them seem much more normal. He stood from the chair as they went over to Lizzie’s room. He watched as they opened the door and gestured to her to go with them. She looked at Peter unsure of what to do but Peter nodded his encouragement and she took the hand that Natasha was holding out to her. They walked her out and then Peter’s door opened. He jumped down from the ceiling but made no other movement as they came in. Natasha pushed Lizzie into the chair and Bucky pulled the table over with some more chairs from outside the hold.

“You guys know how to play uno?” asked Natasha and Lizzie shook her head. Natasha started to shuffle the cards telling them to sit.

“Since when were you allowed to see us again?” Peter asked Barnes, who shrugged in response, next to Natasha. 

“Since Stark has reason to trust the two of you” he said slowly 

“Why should he trust us?” asked Peter

“Well neither of you have made movement to break out and I know fully well you probably could and neither of you have ran for the door from this cell” Bucky pushed Peter into the seat next to Lizzie and Natasha handed him a deck of cards and threw the first one down.

“Does anyone have a red or 5?” she asked cheerfully and Peter ignored the way Barnes was staring at him and concentrated on the game instead. 

* * *

 

 

Steve watched their gameplay and interaction with Bucky carefully not once did the kids make a move to escape and instead just enjoyed playing the game laughing at each other and the game itself. When it finished with Lizzie winning they played again. Steve watched her closely as her eyes flashed gold and suddenly would change card before putting one down and each time would be able to see predict what the person before her was going to put down. 

“She can read minds” Steve jumped and turned to see Wanda and Tony watching the footage from behind him “she’s reading their minds to find the cards” Wanda sat down interested in the girl “how did she get her powers?” she asked them after watching her win again, the other three now looking unimpressed with large handfuls of cards int heir hands. 

“It wasn’t from the mind stone if that’s what you’re wondering, it was from something else though we aren’t sure yet” said Tony also watching the kids play with Natasha and Bucky all four of them were now laughing “HYDRA weapons all in one room and acting like normal humans” he said to Steve who nodded and Tony turned to Wanda “do you think that they could be trouble?”

“I think they’re children who have just known evil” Wanda said “they only know evil because that’s how they were raised. I feel like they mean no harm, you just need to show them some love” Steve looked carefully at her “I speak from experience” she said and Steve and Tony shared a look knowing Wanda had gone through similar things 

"Would you like to meet them?" Tony asked and she nodded.

* * *

Tony watched Wanda interact with them closely. With her being the only Avenger close to their age, the kids reacted well with her especially Lizzie. The two of them spoke through their minds for the majority of the time making Peter feel left out of loop but Wands did open the conversation up to him as well and answered all their questions about what the Avengers were like outside in the world they had known

"You know I use to think they were bad people once too" she said to them after she had revealed that she had also been in a HYDRA facility and had been tortured, Tony had been worried to see the teens share looks as she spoken about that story, looks that shown that they had also gone through that trauma. 

"They aren't bad people" Wanda carried on bringing Tony back to the current conversation "they just want to help as many people as they can" 

"Even us?" Peter asked

"Especially you". 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pauk- Spider  
> Feniks- Phoenix
> 
> The Avengers are starting to trust them, especially Tony.
> 
> I hope you are enjoying this! Please let me know if you have any prompts to be included within the story!


	5. Chapter 5

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tony asked Peter for the third time that morning and Peter rolled his eyes and nodded

"Lizzie has done it so I should too" he said softly and Tony signaled to Bruce, who switched on the camera.

It had been several days since Wanda had gone in to talk with the kids and since then Tony and Pepper had been watching the monitors closely with Rhodey while the others went in. Clint had gone in and they played board games for several hours and watched as Clint was beaten in every game by the two of them, they watched as Lizzie sometimes showed her powers during the game but it was more Peter, who would still walk on the ceiling and chat to others upside down. Steve tried to go in again as well but Tony stopped him 

"One chat from you and Barnes is enough Rogers, we think it's best if you kept your distance" Tony said at breakfast that day ignoring the annoyed expression on Steve's face and instead turned to Sam "What do you think bird brain 2? Fancy coming and have a chat with some Hydra assassins?" he asked. Sam agreed and spent the morning chatting with them individually. It was when Tony went down to swap their books from the Diary of Anne Frank to The Book Thief that day when Lizzie asked to talk about her powers.  

"I'm ready" she had said confidently, so Tony had sorted it with Bruce and they questioned her in one of the labs away from the the hold and the rest of the Avengers. 

She went into detail about what they had done, about how they strapped her down to a table injecting her different venom’s and serums on different days, wiping her mind and others so she could read them and exposing her to huge parts of radiation which finally caused her body to mutate and turn invisible

“I’m still not sure what caused the force fields though” she said with a whisper as she finished her story. They took her bloods twice, once with her in her normal state and the second time with her eyes glowing the bright gold. She went invisible for them until it was just a pair of clothes walking around the lab. 

"How long can you hold it for?" Bruce had asked the walking jumper 

"Several hours. I don't really need to concentrate once I'm invisible" she said sitting back in front of them and turning back to normal. They then asked her to show her force fields and she brought up a small, gold one in her hands it crackled with electricity and she dropped it after "these aren't my favorite" she said to them. After walking her back to the hold, Tony asked Peter if he wanted to do the same and he agreed reluctantly once he saw Lizzie wasn't in any pain from being questioned. 

This is how they ended up with Peter sat opposite them in the same lab where they had taken Lizzie. Peter looked much better than he had done when he arrived a week ago, he had had been pale and skinny but since Tony had out both kids on a new meal plan they had started to slowly gain more weight and their under eye bags were gone. 

"My doctor, Dr Larsons was assigned to me when I first arrived" Peter started "I originally wasn't in the facility you found us at but at the north one up in Canada" Tony scribbled a note down to send to Fury and Peter caught him "if you go to the woods just beyond the border you will find it" he said and Tony nodded his thanks "So they moved me down to the facility and I met Lizzie. Doctor Larsons was assigned to both of us and told us we had been chosen" 

"Chosen by who?" Tony asked and Peter shrugged in response 

"I don't know no one did" he said "they started testing on Lizzie after our 13th birthday and then me shortly after. Before hand we met different soldiers that worked for Hydra and we were trained to kill. I made my first kill with a knife" he said going slightly pale thinking about killing others. 

"And what about your powers?" Bruce asked and Peter gave a wry smile 

"A year ago they had a spider fused with the same radioactive properties that they had used on Lizzie". Peter explained "I then developed my powers overnight while Lizzie’s had taken several days, Doctor Larsons was impressed with me" 

"So aside from sticking to walls and ceilings what else can you do?" Tony asked 

"I have super strength" Peter said "I caught a bus in the training round that was going at 30 miles per hour and walked away without a scratch. I have heightened senses, it's like they all are all dialed to 11.  For example I can hear Rhodey walking around above us" Peter looked at the ceiling and they sat and listened with him. "I can also sense danger and I'm quite flexible oh and I have a healing factor" 

"What about the webs?" Tony asked 

"I could shoot web fluid from a contraption they built into my suit after they realized I could't actually shoot out my wrists like they originally wanted me to"  Peter held up his wrists like they were going to the see where the contraption was built. Tony again jotted it down for his notes "Can I go back now?" Peter asked and they agreed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pauk- Spider  
> Feniks- Phoenix
> 
>  
> 
> I hope you are enjoying this! Please let me know if you have any prompts to be included within the story!


	6. Chapter 6

Several days had passed with the teens settling into having routinely visits everyday from different Avengers who always came in pairs. On the last day they met Fury. He had watched all of the footage Tony had sent them of the kids and wanted to see them for himself

"They seem stable" he commented after meeting them "but who knows how long it will last what if you move them and they try to escape?" 

"We move them back here" Steve said 

"They won't run" Tony said confidently 

"I hope you're right Stark" Fury replied. 

* * *

 

Peter and Lizzie were both coming to the end of the Book thief when Tony arrived with Steve with a big smile on his face. He pressed the button and both of the hold doors open

“Grab your belongings kiddos” Tony called and Peter and Lizzie grabbed their books and small pile of clothes from the floor

“Where are we going” asked Peter to Tony

“Your new room” answered Steve

“As in prison room?” Lizzie asked nervously

“No kid, your own room in the compound” said Steve gently they followed Tony and Steve nervously and got in a elevator that took them up several floors. They stopped at one and Tony walked them down the corridor

“My room is just down the bottom and Steve’s is the other end” Tony said coming to a stop outside of two doors “Natasha and Clint’s rooms are also on this floor further down by Steve” The kids nodded in a daze “alright Pete, you want go first” Peter looked up at the nickname but showed no frowning like he did when he was called Peter

“Can we see Lizzie’s room first” he asked

“A gentleman” said Tony “your taking after Steve kiddo” he pushed open the door on the right and Tony grinned as Lizzie stepped in the room with an open mouth. He had people paint it in a lilac colour with a white ceiling and a fluffy grey carpet. A darker purple fluffy rug lay on the floor. The bed was a huge queen sized bed with white and purple bed sheets and a fluffy dark purple blanket that matched the rug. In the corner of the room was two huge bookshelves stacked with books that Tony had brought thinking that the kids would like and enjoy along with desk and a new laptop. He had also brought them both a wardrobe that needed filling with clothes. Candles decorated Lizzie’s room after she had told Wanda how much she likes the smell and the fire from them. Lizzie was standing at the en suite gaping at the bath and bath bombs selection before turning back to Steve and Tony

“This?” she started and shook her head “it’s too much” she said with a little gasp

“Do you like it” asked Steve and she nodded she dropped her book and clothes on the bed before throwing herself at Tony and Steve. They caught her and hugged her back

“Peter’s room next” she said and Tony grinned nodding with her

“Come on kiddo let’s go to your room”. He let Peter push open the door and the boy hesitantly went in. Peter looked around his room carefully taking it in. His walls had been painted a light blue with a dark blue rug and bed to match. He also had two huge bookshelves. He had a large desk like Lizzie.

“Your room’s are pretty similar but that will change as you get more things and get use to living here” explained Tony. Peter nodded shyly

“Thank you” he said and he grabbed onto Tony’s arm for a hug

“No problem Kiddo, let’s go meet the team”

 

* * *

 

The rest of the team were waiting patiently in the community area for them and smiled upon them entering

“Nice to finally meet you” said Rhodey with a smile and they nodded back

“We were going to have a team movie day and wanted to know if you wanted to join” asked Natasha and they nodded

“Good, hey Friday can you order us some food”

“Pizza” Clint called

“Nah I want Chinese” argued Sam

“One or the other” Tony said with a warning in his voice

“As Lizzie and Peter are new to this, they should decide” said Steve looking at the two who were still standing in the room

“What’s pizza” Peter asked and the Avengers stared in shock

“You’ve never had pizza?” Clint asked in a horrified voice

“We only ate scraps from the kitchens” said Lizzie in small voice and the Avengers all shared a dark look

“Friday order the usual pizza with 3 extra-large ones on top of the usual pizza” Tony ordered and Friday agreed. Steve reached a hand out and pulled Peter to sit between him and Tony whilst Natasha grabbed Lizzie to go next to her and Wanda

“What film shall we watch” asked Sam lounging on the love seat

“We should watch the James Bond films” said Vision who had started to enjoy them

“The conjuring” said Clint with a smirk and everyone else rolled their eyes

“I think we should watch some Disney” said Wanda “I bet these two haven’t seen a Disney film”

“What’s a Disney” asked Peter

“Friday play the first ever Disney film” asked Natasha and ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’ popped up on the screen

“This is my least favorite” Tony muttered over Peter’s head to Steve who smirked in response and shushed him.

 

* * *

 

After Snow White the pizza arrived and the sat eating it and talked about the film

“What did you think” Wanda asked and Lizzie shrugged

“It was okay I like the cartoons”

“It’s called animation, Disney has been making films like that for years” said Clint

“Can we watch another one” Lizzie asked and the Avengers nodded and Friday started playing Pinocchio. This film Peter enjoyed and had a smile on his face for most of the film Lizzie on the other hand looked rather bored

“I think I prefer the Princess film” she whispered to Wanda and Wanda nodded

“I like the princess films and animal films”

“They do animal films” Lizzie asked but Peter shushed her loudly and Lizzie whispered a sorry to him. After Pinocchio and pizza they watched Dumbo and Lizzie grinned at seeing the elephants and enjoyed the story of Dumbo wanting him to find his mum which he did at the end. When it finished Tony told Friday to stop playing the films

“We can doing something else for a bit” he said as the others started to protest. Clint sat up from where he had been lounging on the floor

“We should play Mario Kart”

“We shouldn’t” said Steve

“Scared you’re going to lose again Stevie?” Bucky taunted and Steve scowled in response “what about you two? Fancy playing” Lizzie looked at Peter and they both nodded unsure what Mario Kart was. Clint handed them the remotes and Sam told them how to drive and to pick their characters. Peter chose one in a red and blue suit and Lizzie chose a girl with a yellow bike.

“Alright you need to drive around the course you can use the boxes to help you” explained Sam “just press the button I showed you earlier” Lizzie and Peter nodded

“This could be quite interesting” Tony muttered to Steve and Rhodey “two super kids against two birds”

“They pick up things quickly” said Rhodey as they were part way into their race already and Lizzie and Peter were in the middle of the pack catching up to Sam and Clint who were out in front

“Reflexes are good to” said Steve and Bucky who had joined them on the couch nodded to agree. Peter had a blue shell which manged to knock Sam out of first place and Clint started laughing until Peter then threw a red shell at him making the win clear for him with Lizzie coming in second

“That was fun” Lizzie said and looked at Tony and Steve “can we play again?” she asked and Tony nodded

“Sure kiddo, the rules of Mario Kart mean you play more than once” he said taking Clint’s remote out of his hands and giving it to Bucky “Bucky is our current champion”

“Champion outside of HYDRA Barnes?” Peter snipped and everyone in the room stopped to look at them

“Pete” Lizzie warned in a quiet voice but he just waved her off

“Come on then Barnes let’s race” they played an intense game of Mario Kart. Lizzie and Sam seemed to be happy to let the two battle it out intensely and when Bucky blue shelled Peter and pull across the line in the last lap, Peter jumped to his feet with his fists clenched shouting

“You fucking cheat” he snarled

“That’s the game Pete” said Bucky calmly “we’ve got time to play again don’t worry” Steve grabbed Peter gently by the shoulder and pushed him into his seat “Why don’t we have another round” Bucky offered and Peter nodded. Lizzie handed her remote to Natasha and moved to sit in front of Peter resting her back against his legs he made no movement to push her off as the race began.


	7. Chapter 7

A week later and Tony was adjusting to having two teenagers in the compound and making sure they were happy and safe 24/7. He had drafted up adoption papers for the two of them and with agreement from Pepper they were going to adopt them. Peter had started to control his anger and mood swings and Tony had started to work with him in the lab for a suit that he could use that would be much better than his all black one HYDRA had created. Peter had also asked for his hero name to be Spider-man and Tony had agreed. Peter was bright and also loved Science. He read all of Bruce’s paper’s in the first week as well as the fiction books on his first shelf and he and Tony had connected over building his suit in the lab together.

 Tony had spent less time with Lizzie but had heard how much Pepper, Natasha and Wanda loved her. She was quieter than Peter and would let him talk a hundred miles a minute but would listen to every word he said and be able to repeat back what he said. She spent lots of time reading and had even started to bake working with Bucky in the kitchen. Just the other day they had made perhaps the best cookies Tony had ever eaten. She spent time with the female Avengers talking lots and was just a calm person to have within the compound. Tony had developed a soft spot for the kids as had the rest of the Avengers. He was walking back from the lab late one night when he stopped outside their room after hearing crying coming from Lizzie’s room. He knocked gently on the door and stuck his head around it. Lizzie was sat in bed brushing tears off her face and Peter was sat next to her with an arm around her shoulders. As Tony came in he moved slightly to be in front of her.

“You two okay?” Tony asked and they nodded “bad dream?" and they nodded again Tony let out a sigh “okay kids, come on up you get”

“Why?” asked Peter

“Well when I have bad dreams I like to make myself a hot chocolate and I’m sure this will help you two now come on” they got up and followed Tony to the living room. He watched as they sat on the sofa curling tightly under one of the blankets that lived on the sofa. He came back through and handed them a mug of hot chocolate each.

“What story are we on to now?” he asked knowing they more or less the same book at the same time.

“We just started Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” said Peter

“Didn’t you start those books the other day?” Tony asked surprised and they nodded

“Lizzie really likes them” said Peter and Lizzie nodded

“What do you like about them?”

“The magic, story, characters” said Lizzie “it feels almost real like” she trailed off unsure on how to finish the sentence. 

“An escape” Tony finished for her and she nodded

“Not that I would want to escape from here” she said “This place is starting to feel like a home” and Tony smiled

“What is a home to you guys?” Tony asked and Peter and Lizzie looked at each other for a few minutes thinking

“You think a home is the people within it” Lizzie said to Tony her eyes glowing gold “and Peter agrees”

“What have we said about doing that without asking permission from others” Tony reprimanded gently and Lizzie blinked her eyes going back to normal and looked guilty

“Sorry” she whispered

“It’s okay, just remember who you surrounded by before going into their minds” he said placing a hand on her shoulder

“We think home is where your family are” Peter said and Lizzie nodded in agreement

“And where is that for you?”

“Here” said Peter “with you, Pepper and the Avengers” Tony smiled at that, pleased that the within the month showing the kids some love they had convinced them to trust them and were teaching them right from wrong.

“It’s my home here to kids, ever since you came” he said softy and they smiled back at him “right how about we watch a movie instead of going to bed?” he asked and they nodded Tony went to put on the next Disney film they were on but Lizzie stopped him saying she would rather watch it with everyone else so instead they re watched Lady and the Tramp. The kids curled up on either side of Tony and soon Lizzie was asleep on his shoulder and Peter was asleep on his lap. Tony sat as still as he could not disturbing them and watched the film. As it came to the end Pepper walked into the living room in her pajamas she smiled gently at the sight of them.

“I was wondering where you got to” she whispered pressing a kiss to Tony’s cheek and then one to the top of Lizzie’s and Peter’s heads.

“One of them had a nightmare so we came out here to watch a film” Tony explained

“And when did they fall asleep?” asked Pepper

“About an hour ago?” Tony guessed and Pepper shook her head

“You are such a Dad already” she muttered and Tony looked at her offended

“No I’m not” he said loudly waking Peter up in the process

“What’s going on” he said sleepily “Hi Pep” he said seeing Pepper “did you have a nightmare too?” he asked rubbing the sleep from his eyes

“No honey, I was just wondering where Tony had got to” Pepper ran a hand gently through his hair and rested her hand on his cheek “why don’t you go to bed or you’re going to hurt your back sleeping on this lumpy couch”

“Okay Pepper” he mumbled. Pepper shook Lizzie gently and she too woke up confused and sat up

“Pepper?”

“Hey sweetie, just sending you and Peter to bed okay” she said and Lizzie nodded. Peter held out his hand and the two walked off hand in hand “they’re the most adorable thing you’ve ever brought home” Pepper whispered to Tony as they watched them go

“You still down to try and make them ours?” Tony asked

“We not getting any completion from Steve and Bucky?”

“Nah, they said they want to be Uncles as did Clint and Bruce. Nat on the other hand”

“She can be godmother and Rhodey can be godfather” Pepper said with a grin and Tony nodded

“See this is why I fell for you” he took her hand and pressed a kiss to each finger before giving a huge yawn

“Alright you, bed time as well” Pepper grabbed onto his arm and pulled Tony to the bedroom.

 

 

* * *

 

 

A few weeks later as the weather started to go colder as they approached the end of October, Pepper arrived at Tony’s lab one cold day carrying a stack of paperwork.

“This doesn’t look fun” he said when she pulled him away from tinkering on Peter’s suit. It was now red and blue by request from Peter and Tony was currently figuring out how he could tinker with the eyes on the mask to help filter out Peter’s senses when Pepper had walked in

“I had a letter from the adoption office” Pepper held up the said letter and Tony nodded “they are coming to visit us in a few weeks’ time to see if we and here is an acceptable place for them to live”

“I’ll get all my lawyers on the case” Tony said and Pepper nodded

“Whatever help we can get they are reluctant due to the job you do and the people that we live” she said and Tony sighed knowing people would judge about Bruce, Natasha and Bucky

“But it’s made me realize something” Pepper said “They’re 15, they should be at school” Tony nodded along and then stopped thinking about what she had just said. 

“They’re two former HYDRA agents, do you think school would be a good idea?” he questioned her

“Well I’ve looked into the schools within the area and Midtown Tech sounds like the best one for them, it’s small, students are very smart they need to take a test to be accepted into it. I think it would work them”

“Can’t they just stay here and be home-schooled?” Tony asked and Pepper rolled her eyes

“What engineering by you and history from Steve and Bucky as long as it’s based on the Second World War? Tony, if we want to be approved they need to be in a school but also Midtown would look good on college applications” Pepper gave Tony a stern look and he nodded in defeat

“Fine, we’ll tell them tonight and see what they think”.

Both Tony and Pepper went around the Avenger’s later that evening asking for privacy on their floor as they were discussing school with Peter and Lizzie. All of the Avenger’s agreed that it would be a good idea to send them to high school

“It will ground them more” said Steve and Bucky nodded “and will expose them more to others of their same age. As you said Tony they are just kids with extraordinary abilities”. Pepper cooked fajitas for dinner and once Lizzie and Peter had finished training with Natasha and Sam they came up to Tony’s and Pepper’s floor away from the communal area they normally lived on

“This is amazing” said Peter his mouth partly full as he spooned more chili mixture into his fajita “can you teach us more Mexican food?” he asked swallowing his mouthful and licking his lips

“Of course” Pepper said with smile they ate dinner and chatted about work, movies they had watched recently. Bucky and Steve had started watching the Star Wars films with them which they were loving. Lizzie had speed through the rest of the Harry Potter series and had finished the final book that morning and was trying to hold back spoilers from Peter who was still on the fifth book. He had been reading some more of Bruce’s papers and was often questioning Bruce about the theories behind them. He and Tony then started a discussion about the paper and then moved onto engineering as they ate washed up while Lizzie and Pepper discussed a book series Pepper was reading and thought that Lizzie would enjoy. Pepper then served cheesecake for dessert and sat them at the table.

“This has been really nice” said Pepper once they had finished and they all nodded “I bet your wondering why just us though?” she said and the kids nodded

“We called you up here to talk to you about the adoption process we mentioned the other day” Tony said and they nodded

“You still want to adopt us right?” asked Peter and Pepper shared a look with Tony before he grabbed onto Peter’s hand and gave it a squeeze

“Of course, we want to adopt both of you. However, we need to be visited for approval first and to help us gain this approval Pepper has realized a big thing”

“You two need to be in school” she said. Lizzie and Peter looked at them nervously.

“You‘re sending us away” Lizzie said looking down on at the table and they shook their heads

“No sweetie, there’s a school not far from here. You will still live in the compound. We just need to know if you’re happy to go there” she pulled out her Stark Pad from her bag and showed them the pictures of Midtown Tech explaining the school and the tests they needed to take. Both Lizzie and Peter though were enthusiastic to go and see what it would be like and when they could start there. Pepper smiled at Tony and agreed to the meeting with Principal Mortia. As the two of them bounded back down to the communal area to play Mario Kart with Clint and Natasha who arrived back first, Tony hugged Pepper after he had finished tidying

“That was amazing” he whispered to her and she agreed

“Family nights are something for the future”

“Every week” Tony agreed and so did she.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The teens are going to be starting school next chapter!


	8. Chapter 8

By the end of the week, Peter and Lizzie had taken the test to go Midtown and both of them had passed with flying colors. Principal Mortia had them registered for their classes and they started on the Monday. They spent the weekend before watching films about high schools trying to understand what might happen there.

“No one will randomly break out into song” Sam said to them after they watched High School Musical and were discussing songs that they could sing. 

“Cliques like that still exist” Clint said after they watched The Breakfast Club. So come Monday morning when Happy drove them and Pepper and Tony to the school, Peter and Lizzie were holding onto their bags tightly and looking very nervous.

“What if we get beat up?" Peter asked and Tony scoffed

“You’re super kids, you beat them back up” he said

“Tony!” Pepper glared at him before turning to the kids “You do not fight, get help from a teacher, do not reveal you have got powers or we will have the rest of SHIELD breathing down our backs” they nodded. They walked into Morita's office where he shook hands with them and greeted them and gestured for them all to sit down. 

“So, Mr and Mrs Stark” he said

“Potts” Pepper interjected “We aren’t married yet”

“My mistake” Morita crossed off Stark and changed it to Potts on the records, he then looked over at Lizzie’s and Peter’s last names. They were using their original names instead of Stark to not cause any unwanted attention from the students “you were home-schooled?” he asked and the teens nodded.

“Our foster family home schooled us” Lizzie said and Morita accepted this. Tony breathed a sigh of relief that Natasha could hack into databases and create records like this. 

“Well your scores were exceptional, Peter you shone in Science in all areas and Lizzie you’re English and History scores are excellent” Tony and Pepper smiled at each other as the kids blushed at Morita's words “I’m sure you will be excellent assets to our schools” Peter winced at the name but only Tony caught it and he subtly squeezed the boys knee to make him relax “Well Mr Stark, Miss Potts leave it to me I’ll get them settled this morning” Tony and Pepper got up and hugged them goodbye.

“Good luck, enjoy” Pepper called as Principal Morita's assistant lead them out of the school. 

* * *

 

“Alright you two grab your bags” Morita ordered and they did. He walked out of the office and in the waiting room was a girl and a boy who stood up as they walked out “Peter and Lizzie this is Ned and Lauren” he gestured to the kids. Ned was a boy who had floppy black hair and was wearing a Star Wars t-shirt, he grinned at the two of them. Lauren had a long brown curly hair and also gave them a bright smile “both of them are in all of your classes and will show you how the school works” Morita said “I suggest taking them to lockers first” he said and Lauren and Ned nodded at his order. Lauren looked at Lizzie’s map for her locker

“Oh you’re next to mine” she said and smiled at Lizzie “I love your bag by the way!” Lizzie had been brought a new bag by Pepper for the school year and it was a leather in a deep purple.

“Thank you” Lizzie said shyly “I like the color of yours” Lauren’s bag was a bright red. Lauren led Lizzie to her locker and showed her the way to get in. As Lizzie dropped her gym kit in the locker she listened to Lauren talk about the people and their first class which was English.

“We’re starting How To Kill a Mockingbird” Lauren said "everyone is struggling with it already" Lizzie grinned

“I’ve read that one” she said

“During your home schooling?” Lauren asked and Lizzie nodded “oh good you will be fine then while the rest of us struggle” she said this with a laugh. 

“I can lend you my notes if that will help?” Lizzie offered and Lauren smiled

* * *

 

“That would be great thanks!”. Peter’s locker was just further down the corridor and he had done the same as Lizzie but instead of talking about school Ned and Peter were talking about the Star Wars films

“I mean I’ve only watched them recently but my favorite must be Luke” Peter said and Ned agreed

“Everyone loves Luke and the droids. Have you seen the newest one?” he asked and Peter shook his head “oh dude it’s the best one so far!”

“I’ll watch it on the weekend” Peter said “What’s our first class?”

“English” Ned said with an eye roll “not my favorite, I prefer chemistry and physics”

“Me too” said Peter “I like learning about experiments”

“I suppose you never did experiments at home-school?” Ned asked and Peter shook his head “you will enjoy chemistry this afternoon then” Peter grinned as Ned pulled him into English class.

  __

* * *

 

The former Hydra agents enjoyed their first morning as normal, high school students. They all had English together which thanks to Tony, Lizzie and Peter had a head start on the book they were reading and Lizzie impressed their teacher on the knowledge that she had on it. Miss Jones asked them to revisit the book an announced there would be a pop quiz tomorrow on the first few chapters.

Then Peter and Ned had Algebra next and Lizzie and Lauren went to Geography. Lauren introduced Lizzie to her friend Charlie and the girls sat together on the benches outside at break watching the boys lounging on the bleachers. Lauren and Charlie pointed out the guys they were crushing on and the three of them giggled as they went into detail about them. Lizzie only had ever known Peter but since moving in with Tony and Pepper she had found herself looking at other men mainly celebrities in magazines with Wanda. Peter followed Ned at break not wanting to be left alone and Ned pulled out some Lego in the band room

“I don’t have any friends” Ned admitted as he placed them on the floor “you don’t have to stay with me”

“You’ve got one now” Peter sat down “You’re going to have to help me build this though” and Ned smiled. Their next lesson was Spanish with Lizzie and Lauren and this was something new to them as all they had learnt within the HYDRA base was Russian and German but they picked it up slowly with help from Ned and Lauren.

“Shall we eat together at lunch?” Peter asked Lizzie and Lauren and Lauren agreed telling Charlie who came over with a big smile greeting Peter and Ned cheerfully. They sat on one of the tables in the cafeteria and ate together chatting about the day so far. 

“This afternoon we’ve got Trig and Gym” Lauren said to Lizzie

“Gym? We’ve got gym too” Ned said and they all groaned

“I’m guessing gym isn’t fun” said Peter and they nodded

“What’s fun about working out” said Ned

“Lots” Lizzie said “well our Aunt makes it fun. We train with her sometimes”

“Who are you’re foster parents? Ned asked Peter “and are you two related or something?”

“We are cousins” Lizzie said the lie easily and Peter nodded “Our parents both work for a company” that part was true they both worked for Stark Industries

“How long have you lived with them” asked Lauren picking at her ham sandwich

“For about two months” said Peter

“Was your previous family not good?” asked Charlie and they shook their heads

“No not really” said Lizzie “so why is Gym so bad?” moving the subject on quickly

“Well Coach Wilson is beyond useless. He just plays the Captain America PSA’s constantly and they are so boring” Lauren groaned. Lizzie and Peter shared a confused look

“The what?” Peter asked and Ned pulled one up on his phone to show them. Lizzie and Peter giggled at seeing Steve dressed up in his costume giving these serious talks about staying in school

“How embarrassing” Lizzie said and Lauren nodded. Peter grinned wickedly making a mental note to ask Tony and Bucky about these after school. They moved from their table at the end of lunch and went to their lockers to grab their books. As Ned was getting his Peter was tapped on the shoulder by someone, he turned around to face a boy he hadn’t met before.

“Hey, new kid right? Peter Parker?” he asked and Peter nodded in response. The boy glanced at Ned as he came to meet Peter “oh god you’ve been partnered up with this loser all day? Hey Leeds how did you swing this with Morita? Maybe he’s fed up of you hanging outside his office” the boy called cruelly to Ned who flinched. Peter frowned at this, Tony and Clint had warned him and Lizzie that there would be other children at the school who wouldn’t be as friendly or as accepting as others and Peter had just found one “Names Flash” Flash stuck a hand out “hang with me Parker if you want friends of a decent quality”

“Think I can decide for my own thanks” Peter said coolly and Flash glared at him and Peter returned it

“Here Pete, I’ve got your chemistry book in my bag for some reason” Lizzie interrupted the conversation pushing past Flash so she was stood between them “Hi Flash” she said “problem?”

“Liz” he said nodding his head at her “don’t tell me you know this loser too” he gestured at Peter

“My cousin actually” she said “and I don’t take kindly to you calling him a loser” her voice changing to a colder one

“Lizzie leave it” Peter hissed grabbing her arm and pulling her away.

“I’ll see you around Penis” Flash called as Peter pulled Lizzie away over to Ned and Lauren who had watched from a distance

“How do you know that guy?” Peter asked

“Geography class” Lizzie said with a bitter tone “he sat behind me the whole lesson”

“He took an interest to her” said Lauren “he does to every girl in this school don’t let it bother you. He did it to me too”

“Did what to you?” Peter asked

“Nothing. He did nothing Pete alright?” Lizzie said too quickly. The bell then rang and they the four went their separate ways. Peter had the teacher sign his sign in sheet and sat down next to Ned bouncing with excitement. The teacher, Mr Hall went through the experiment using the chemicals and seeing what reactions and elements could be created. Peter and Ned worked together laughing and enjoying themselves writing down the different reactions and results. Peter was gutted when the bell went for Gym but Mr Hall gave them homework to research their next experiment in class. Ned took Peter to the changing rooms that were luckily empty.

“Mr Hall’s class is the furthest away so I’m always last here to get changed” Ned said as the slipped into their gym clothes “unfortunately we have Flash in this class” he said as they joined the rest of the class on the bleachers in front of a TV. Coach Wilson played the video of Captain America and Peter snickered under his breath at Steve until Coach had them on the floor doing drills including push ups and sit ups. The rest of the class seemed to struggle, being a science school they lacked many of sport backgrounds. Peter and Lizzie were both the quickest in the class. 

“Well done Parker and Richardson” Wilson said as he made his rounds “Did you have training at home school?” he asked

“We trained every day, running and doing stuff like this” Lizzie said, which was true HYDRA had them doing drills constantly as well as fighting and gymnastics. Wilson had them stretch and stood shocked as Lizzie and Peter bent their bodies easily while the rest of the class, aside from Lauren who was part of the dance team, struggled.

“Right” he said having them back on the bleachers. Peter was finding gym a gentle work out compared to the intense ones that HYDRA put them through and the training sessions with Natasha and Steve. He chuckled to himself when Coach Wilson pulled out the ropes and said they were going to be climbing them

“You could do this in your sleep” Lizzie hissed

“I can’t show off that much, remember what Pepper said” he whispered back and she nodded going with Lauren and Charlie to one of the ropes. Peter followed Ned to one and they watched others attempt to climb it. Unfortunately Flash was on their rope and jumped down from making it 3/4s of the way up.

“I doubt you losers are going to beat that” he said unkindly to the small group and true to his word none of the others made it up that far.

“They should make this illegal” Ned said as they watched James attempt to pull himself up

“It is counted as some kind of torture in some schools” said Peter “but not here” James jumped down

“Leeds you’re up” called Coach Wilson and Ned groaned as Flash laughed

“Oh this should be good” he stood with his arms crossed

“You can do it Ned” Lizzie called across the hall where she was waiting to go on the rope and gave Ned the thumbs up which he returned. Peter smiled at Lizzie and she winked at him

“Let’s go Ned” Peter called as Ned started to climb. Ned was not built for rope climbing in anyway and made it about a quarter before dropping to the mat. He had done the worst out of their group so far something Flash then taunted him about it

“That was pathetic Leeds, you call that climbing” he spat at him and Ned turned away

“Mr Parker, you’re up” Coach Wilson called ignoring Flash’s comments to Ned as Peter stepped up Flash elbowed him harshly in the ribs and hissed in his ear

“You’re going to be shit too and you and your little buddy will remain like that here forever” Peter couldn’t take it anymore. He grabbed the rope and using little strength reached the top with ease. He looked down as Ned cheered and the rest of the class clapped while Flash stood with his mouth hanging open

“What did you say Flash” Peter called down climbing back down with ease

“You need to join a team Parker” said Coach Wilson there was more clapping this time from Lauren and Charlie. Lizzie had also climbed to the top of the rope “you too Richardson” he called as she dropped back down “nice job, okay everyone back on the bleachers so we can chat about next class” Lizzie grinned and walked over to the bleachers with Lauren as she walked past Flash Peter heard her say

“Close your mouth Eugene or you’ll catch flies”.

* * *

 

“This my number” Peter said typing it into Ned’s phone “text me about that lego set” Ned smiled in response as he typed his number in after he had freaked out about Peter having a brand new Stark phone “I’ve added Lizzie’s number as well in case I’ve broken my phone again”

“Do you do that a lot?” asked Ned

“All the time” Peter said and Ned grinned at that. He waved him goodbye as Ned walked home and lived to the south of the school. Peter walked back through the school to go and meet Lizzie and found her waiting on the wall where Tony had said to them to wait for Happy. She was sat alone. He sped up as he noticed Flash nearby

“Hey” she said grinning at him

“Hey how have you found today” he asked sitting next to her glancing over at Flash who was now walking away from them

“Actually really good” Lizzie answered enthusiastically “When Pepper first said we were going here I was a bit skeptical but I’ve really enjoyed today aside from Flash”

“Yeah Flash is an idiot what did he say to you by the way”

“Nothing I haven’t heard before” she said “leave it please”. Happy pulled up and they jogged down the steps to the car excited to get back to the compound

“Hey Happy” Peter called as they got in the car “how’s your day been”

“Tony and Pepper in meetings all day so great, how was your day kids you’re the ones that have started a new school” the rest of the ride home Peter and Lizzie took it in turns to talk about their day and new friends to Happy before falling quiet looking their phones as their friends had started to text them. Lauren had placed them into a Whats App group named ‘friendlies’

_Lauren- Hey guys just thought this would be easy if we want to talk all together at any point I hope Lizzie and Peter you enjoyed your first day!_ _J_

“What should I put as my name on this” Peter asked Lizzie and she shrugged

“A nickname maybe not Spiderman though” she warned as he went to type that

_Lizzie- Good idea Loz! It’s been fab thanks!_

_Pete- Great thanks_

_Leeds- OMG guys have you seen this?!_

_Charlie- What the hell is that?!_ Peter clicked on the video and grinned as the vine played and showed it to Lizzie she smirked

_Lizzie- Flash anyone?!_ And they all responded with the laughing emoji’s.

“I guess this is what Pepper meant” Peter said as they chatted to the others in the main group chat and individual ones. 

“I hope so”. They pulled up at the compound and after throwing quick thanks you at Happy they ran up and through the compound door.

“Hey kids” they turned to see Clint and Steve walking towards them “How was the first day” asked Steve and they started chatting over each other about how much they enjoyed it missing the amused looks Clint and Steve sent each other

“I bet Pepper and Tony can’t wait to hear about it” said Clint

“Where are they?” asked Peter

“They’re still in a meeting” said Steve watching as the kids deflated clearly wanted to tell their new parents about their day “why don’t you get on with work while you wait? I’m about to go and make some tea and I know Bucky made cookies this morning” at that they perked up and followed Steve to the kitchen. They both pulled homework out deciding to start on their separate stuff and to come together to revise their English book as Lizzie opened her Geography text book and started plotting the cities of Russia onto her map with ease and Peter looked at his Chemistry equations Steve started to make dinner. He placed two mugs of tea in front of them and a plate of chocolate cookies listening to them chat about their homework and teachers as he peeled potatoes for tonight’s dinner to go with their pork. He looked up as Bucky came in and he greeted the three of them softly

“Cookies are amazing Bucky” Lizzie said and he smiled coming over to help Steve

“It’s so domestic in here” he muttered “you guys are going to melt Stark’s heart when he gets here” Bucky watched as the put their homework in their bags and Lizzie went off to get their books while Peter got out paper so they could make notes on the first few chapters

“Did you make any friends kid?” Bucky asked peeling carrots for Steve and Peter nodded

“Yeah Morita had assigned two from our class to show us around. Ned showed me around. He’s great we talked about Star Wars and built Legos together and we are partners in Chemistry” he said with a smile as Lizzie came back in. 

“I met Lauren and Charlie and they were really friendly” Lizzie said 

“That’s good” said Steve and Bucky nodded encouragingly. They carried on making dinner while Lizzie read through the book quickly and had Peter take notes on then the two of them worked quietly making notes until Friday interrupted to say Tony was out of his meeting and quote “fucking starving”

“He needs to start watching his language with these two around” said Steve oblivious to Lizzie and Peter’s giggles of the swear word. Tony came into the kitchen.

“Hey Cap, Buckaroo” he turned and spotted Lizzie and Peter at the table “kids!” he called coming over and ruffled their hair fondly “how was school?” he asked and they started talking a mile a minute again about how much the enjoyed it. Steve and Bucky smiled as they heard it and zoned out when they did it again for Pepper that evening. Steve and Bucky remained at the table with Tony and Pepper while Lizzie, Peter, Wanda and Natasha washed up and listened to their laughter and shouts as they washed up.

“Best idea you’ve ever had” Tony said clinking his glass against Pepper’s “they’re the happiest they’ve been since arriving here”

“Will this help with your application for adopting them?” Steve asked and Pepper nodded

“I brought it up today with Tony’s lawyers and they loved the ideas”

“They’re bright kids, even in HYDRA they found ways to learn” said Bucky nodding along “smart move Potts”

“What happens once you adopt them?” Steve asked knowing full well they wouldn’t be able to keep this secret for long

“If it comes to it we will need to do a conference with or without the kids” said Tony “but I’m hoping it never will” they looked up as Lizzie ran away from Peter giggling as he chased after her down the compound corridor waving what looked like a sponge full of soapy water “don’t break anything” Tony shouted after them and rolled his eyes as he heard them crashing into something and them shouting “Sorry!” back up the corridor sending the rest of the Avengers into giggles as they both came back into the dining room covered in soapy water. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking with this story! Your Kudos are greatly appreciated!


	9. Chapter 9

By Friday Lizzie and Peter had adjusted well to Midtown Tech. Both of them had calls home from teachers to Tony and Pepper about their behavior and how taken they were by them throughout the week. Lizzie remained friends with Lauren and Charlie as the three girls were very similar and shared the same interests.  Lizzie ended up joining the Dance club to be with Lauren and Charlie while Peter joined Band and the Academic Decathlon team who focused in Science and were more than welcoming to having Peter join the team. Once they got back home on the Friday they were both asleep within the first few minutes of movie night exhausted from the week

“First week took it out of them then?” Sam said and Tony nodded trying to not to move as Peter had fallen asleep on him again

“I think they’ve enjoyed it though, Pepper thinks it will look good on our adoption application” he said gently running a hand through Peter’s curls when he stirred slightly. Lizzie was lying on top of Natasha after getting on so well with the red haired assassin.

"When do you have the meeting with the adoption team?" asked Clint

"Next week" Tony groaned "it's more a see where everything is and that it's all heading in the right direction" 

"Well with the amount of lawyers you have got working on the case I would be surprised if it wasn't" Natasha commented quietly and Tony agreed. When they stated the process the first thing they did was contact Tony's lawyer and his team to help them with the case. 

"Who's on baby sitting duty?" asked Sam and Tony scoffed 

"They're hardly babies Wilson, but Pep has already asked Barton and Romanoff" Natasha and Clint smiled at Sam 

"Why not me?" asked Sam almost offended "I'm great with kids" 

"I'm sure you are" Tony said in a monotone voice "but I didn't choose so if you do have any qualms you need to talk to Pepper" Sam shook his head and turned back to the film. 

* * *

 

“We will be back by Friday” Pepper said to Lizzie and Peter before they went to school on the day of their trip “we’ve got some SI conferences and meetings first and we can call every night if you want?” she asked unsure but they both nodded at this 

"We will see you on Friday" Lizzie said before giving Pepper and then Tony a hug. Peter waved to them as he and Lizzie headed out of the door to go and find Happy to take them to school. They had only been gone 20 minutes when Clint and Natasha arrived to moved into the wing for the week.

“Your bathrooms are nicer than ours” Clint said after he had gone to dump his things in one of the guest rooms and Tony raised an eyebrow

“This is my compound” he said "why shouldn't my bathrooms be better than yours?" 

“They will be okay” Natasha said as they saw Tony and Pepper off “we’ve got this”

“If anything happens, call” Tony warned “even if it’s something like a paper cut we are only in Florida and then Washington Friday can reach us any where”

“Tony their former assassins being watched by two super spies. I think they will be fine” Pepper groaned and pulled him out the door to where Happy was waiting for them after returning from dropping Lizzie and Peter at Midtown. 

 

Clint and Natasha turned out to be the correct choice to look after Lizzie and Peter, every day when Tony called he had to hear about what item Clint had broken, what move Natasha had taught them during training and where they had gone out together which was Central Park for most days and they always involved ice cream.

“I feel like you don’t want me home” Tony said to them on the last night away and smirked as they both started shouting no and sorry over each other until they noticed Tony smiling

“It’s just been fun on a stressful week” Lizzie said and Peter nodded

"How is this week going?" Tony asked knowing they were currently playing catch up to the rest of the class

"All of our teachers have got us doing extra credit" Peter commented "so any chance we get at school and here we do it but Natasha and Clint do not like us working for to long. They say that we will get sick if we do"

"They are right" Tony said pleased the spies were keeping a close eye on the two of them. They then changed the topic as Peter discussed the latest meeting he had with his decathlon team and Lizzie was chatting about her Geography essay when Peter asked an unexpected question

“Tony, what’s Thanksgiving?” Peter asked and Tony looked up surprised

“I suppose HYDRA never celebrated that with you?” he asked

“Nor Halloween or Christmas” Lizzie added.

“I know about Halloween” Tony said they had a huge fancy dress party for Halloween and Tony agreed to having Ned, Charlie and Lauren over to the compound. The three of them had been beyond excited to be in the compound and Tony and Pepper had secretly approved of the teenagers after they went home. They made a good group even if they didn’t always hang out together around and outside of school.

“Well, best thing to do is to ask Cap all about it and he will make the meal” Tony said “and Christmas will be amazing” he said with a grin already full aware of presents he and Pepper had ordered and brought for the two of them. Pepper came in then from her shower dressed in her dressing gown.

“Hey kids” she called

“Hi Pepper” they called back smiling and Tony let Pepper have her own conversation with them joining her at the end to say goodnight. They went to bed not long after  and the next morning both of them dressed in their best suits went over to the adoption office in the middle of the city and met Tony’s lawyers outside who were smiling.

“You’ve got this boss” one said with a grin at him and Tony exhaled nervously. The woman in charge of their adoption was Ms Crowson, a scary looking woman with a stern face. She went through the files of both Lizzie and Peter, missing the HYDRA information but contained information about their family and adoptions from other families thanks to Natasha forging some documents and Fury also pulling some strings with SHIELD. 

“As far as I can see this would just about be acceptable” she said flicking through Peter’s file “just a home visit would remain. When will you be back at the tower?”

“The tower?” asked Tony confused

“Mr Stark, do you really expect to be able to raise two teenagers in a compound full of superheroes and be an hour away from their school?” she asked “for the interest of them you need to be back in the tower" 

“So this is a maybe?” asked Pepper

“Once your home visit is over. It will be a yes” Ms Crowson gave them a warm smile.

 

Peter clocked watched the entire of their final period class ignoring the amused looks Lizzie and Ned were sending his way. Pepper and Tony were back today and they would find out if the adoption process was going smoothly. Two months ago Peter would have scorned at the idea of family and now it was something he wanted so badly it hurt. Their history teacher was talking about the American civil war battles, featuring Lizzie adding in the dates and places of battles. Lizzie’s score in English and History floored Peter every time how could she find two dull subject so interesting?

At least he had someone there to help him with assignments and he in turn helped her with science and maths. Finally the bell rang and Peter jumped up throwing his books in his bag and grabbing Lizzie by the arm. They lead the way out of class followed by Ned and Lauren to their lockers

“This so exciting the Stark's are going to be your parent’s dude” Ned said as they stopped to collect their gym bags and any books they needed for the weekend.

“I know” Peter said with a smile “I can’t wait”

“We haven’t seen them all week either” said Lizzie coming over with her bag “I just want to see them”

“But you lived with Black Widow for a week” said Lauren and Lizzie grinned

“That was cool she’s really nice”

“No way do you know Black Widow Richardson” it was Flash and Lizzie rolled her eyes at Peter who smirked

“I’ve met her through the internship with Mr Stark” she said with a shrug and Peter nodded

“This internship is bullshit”

“Why don’t you ask Mr Stark that?” said Peter fed up of Flash who sneered at him

“Maybe I will Penis and he can tell me what bullshit this is”

“Come one” Lauren pulled at their arms “you don’t want to be late” they turned their backs on Flash and headed outside

“He’s such a dick” said Peter annoyed to Ned who nodded

“Always has been” Ned muttered darkly obviously not happy with Flash. Happy was sat in the car as usual and Peter and Lizzie wished their friends goodbye and to enjoy the weekend before running over with excitement. The trip to the compound seemed to last longer than normal and by them time they had got there Happy was ready to thrown the two out of the car. He pulled up and before the car had come to a proper stop they were jumping out and  shouting goodbye running to the lift to take them up to their wing. 

“Hey Friday” Peter called “are Pepper and Tony back?”

“Boss and Ms Potts are on their private floor which I am too take you two now”. Friday stopped the lift on the private floor and they ran out. Tony and Pepper were sat at the dining table with two gift bags in front of them and papers

“Hey kids” Tony said as they walked in “take a seat” Peter and Lizzie did so looking very nervous

“There is no need to look so nervous” said Pepper “we’ve been approved for the next step” she said the last bit excitedly pushing the papers to them so they could see. The two of them read over the papers quietly while Tony and Pepper watched them

“When will she be coming?” asked Peter after several minutes of flicking through the papers

“In the next few weeks” Pepper answered “she’s impressed though so this house visit is nothing to be worried about”

“However it will no longer be here" Tony paused looking at their faces to gauge their reactiosn "I've managed to buy the tower back in the middle of the city. It's closer to school" both of them grinned at that news " And maybe crank up the domestic life you two do a little more once we get there?” Tony suggested and Lizzie and Peter nodded in agreement. Tony then pushed the blue gift bag in front of Peter and the red one in front of Lizzie “we were nearby a certain place down south during one of the SI meetings” They both pulled out Universal plastic bags

“As in the theme park” Peter said remembering the ads on the television and they nodded. 

“We didn’t spend the day but popped in to get a certain gift” Pepper explained. Lizzie looked at Peter confused about what they had been brought but the two of them opened the bags up. They both pulled out scarves Lizzie’s was red and gold and Peter’s was blue and silver. They both had the Harry Potter logo on them.

“No way” Lizzie whispered running her hands over the soft material “they sell shit like this?” she asked excitedly ignoring the way Pepper frowned at her language

“Yeah this and other things, wands, clothes, even the sweets” said Tony “we got the right houses right? Nat said you sorted yourselves with Clint the other day” Clint had the two of them set up Pottermore accounts along with him so they could all find out their Hogwarts houses before they watched the films. Lizzie had got Gryffindor and Peter had got Ravenclaw, which both of them had been immensely pleased about as they felt this suited them. Clint had got Hufflepuff and had spent the rest of the evening announcing he was a motherfucking badger to everyone and anyone who would listen.

“Yeah these are right” Peter said pulling his on while Lizzie continued to stare at hers. Pepper smiled at their delight in getting the scarves

“Maybe we could go to universal one day” she said and they nodded excitedly 

“The shop must be amazing” Lizzie said and they grinned

“All of it is” Tony said “now let’s eat and then a night in with games?” he suggested and they nodded enthusiastically.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it has been so long since I have updated! New job and everything in my family life happens around this time of year! However I have wrote loads so should hopefully manage to update some more! Thank you for reading and sticking with me and I will try to be more consistent!

A few weeks later Tony finally got the builders out of the tower and as it fell over the weened after Thanksgiving weekend he had Pepper and the kids pack up their belongings and prepared to move them to the tower. Before they left the compound they celebrated with a large meal cooked by Pepper and Bucky. They spent the evening laughing and playing board games. It was at the end of the night that Tony offered the tower to the original Avengers, who all took him up on the offer, while Sam, Wanda, Vision opted to stay at the compound.

A day before the move Rhodey arrived back from the mission he had been on for the last 3 months. Peter and Lizzie hung back from his nervously while Tony introduced them to him they knew how much Tony valued Rhodey and his opinion. Rhodey did well at hiding his shock but he already knew a bit about them from messages from Tony. He still grinned and chatted to them as they sat together in the communal area now onto the Lion King in their Disney movie marathons and Rhodey told the kids he liked them which they replied the same to him. He declined to go with them opting to also stay at the compound.

Moving day was chaos. Enough to give Tony a headache all day.

Luckily Pepper had been organised sending the Avengers off with Lizzie and Peter and their belongings in the big removal truck and he and Pepper followed at a more relaxed pace. On arrival everyone moved furniture back into the penthouse helping set it up to make it homely. Steve, Bucky, Vision and Peter proved useful to have with their super strength and had no issues moving the bulky furniture around while the others moved smaller bits in pairs of twos.

Tony had watched slightly amused as Lizzie kept changing her mind where she wanted her bed.

"Sorry Steve can you it there?" she asked stood in the middle of her large room looking around it

"No problem," Steve replied cheerfully and moved the heavy double bed to where she had pointed

"No it doesn't look right there can you move it back?" she asked and Tony chuckled at the look of exasperation on Steve's face and left them too it to continue to move his tech into the lab. It took them several hours (some small arguments about couch placement in the communal floor by Clint and Tony) but they all dropped to the sofa in relief around 10pm after eating pizza.

“Friday put on any movie,” Tony mumbled tiredly. Most of the Avengers aside from Clint were awake. Pepper had already excused herself to bed and Lizzie and Peter were curled up under blankets on the end of the long sofa next to Natasha.

“They are asleep” she whispered to Tony after 10 minutes of the film

“Want me to move them?” Steve asked quietly and Tony shook his head.

“In a bit, left them settle into sleep first” he said the kids had worked hard on getting their rooms to how they wanted and had lots to still do but had moved all their furniture from the compound and had assembled the key bits they had. Peter had more stamina after to carry on while Lizzie helped Pepper out putting away small bits of furniture in the correct cupboards.

“How did they take it about moving here?” Bruce asked after looking at them for a bit.

“Nervous at first” Tony admitted “but excited, they want to be in the city more”.

The film carried on and they all attempted to watch it but Tony could see they were all yawning more and more. Tony watched amused as Bruce fell asleep and the others struggled to keep their eyes open when suddenly Friday stopped the film.

“Friday” he asked slowly sitting up

“Miss Lizzie’s heart rate is above average” the AI said Natasha sat up quickly smoothing hand through her hair.

“Just a nightmare” she said to Tony who nodded

“She should be alright she doesn’t get them like Pete” Peter had night terrors that often left him screaming. He had yet to actually admit to Tony that he was having trouble sleeping but Tony was aware thanks to Friday. Natasha moved her hand when Lizzie seemed to settle.

“Friday continue the film” she said and they carried on watching unaware Lizzie had now opened her eyes. Suddenly she shot up from where she had been lying skidding off the sofa and landing hard on the floor. She pressed a hand to her throat and chest and took a huge deep breath. One that Tony often took after a panic attack. It rattled him as she took several of these, however when Natasha bent down next to her to help Lizzie threw up a force field, breathing harshly.

"Don’t touch me!” she warned the stunned group, her eyes glowing a harsh gold and the field crackling causing the lights to crack and smash. The noise woke Peter and Clint who woke up swearing while Peter looked horrified at Lizzie and scrambled over to her, kneeling in front of her,

“Liz it’s okay” he said “you’re not going anywhere,”

“What does that mean?” said Tony kneeling down next to them.

“She’s dreaming about being taken again” Peter said sadly.

“What?” Clint asked beyond confused and was looking around the room tiredly looking for some clues.

"What does she mean about getting taken?" Steve asked to Peter

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here" Lizzie snapped back at Steve in response.

“Settle down” Tony warned her "all Steve wants to do is help" he said in a calm voice "you trust me right?" he asked and she nodded slowly "then you know nothing is going to happen we aren't going to judge or hurt you," Lizzie considered this and let out a long sigh. The gold light around her disappeared.

"I'm sorry" she said to the group "but I'm not ready to talk about it yet," she looked over to Tony who nodded in agreement. "

Think it's best not to too yet" Peter added and Lizzie agreed in a soft voice with him, her eyes then changed from their normal sea blue to a bright gold and she spent several minutes looking around and at the Avenger's faces.

“Are you reading our minds?” Clint asked with a look of interest as she looked around the room.

“She’s just checking she’s safe” reassured Peter and the rest of the Avengers nodded. Her eyes flickered back to their normal blue and Tony carefully held out his hand too her which she took.

“Need help chasing the bad thoughts away?” he asked and she nodded. Tony pulled her to him and she buried her head into his neck letting him wrap his arms tightly around her. Natasha joined them on the floor wrapping an arm around Peter’s shoulders.

“Friday carry on playing them film,” she ordered and the film continued. Tony moved to a more comfortable position next to Natasha leaning against the couch. Lizzie pulled away going under is right arm and allowing him to pull Peter closer with his left. They both fell asleep on his shoulders and within 20 minutes Tony was also slumped asleep against the sofa.

“Hey Friday? You got an Iron dad folder?” Clint whispered in amusement.

“Not yet” responded the AI.

“Then set one up and take a picture please” Bruce said smiling at the three. Once the film had finished the other Avengers headed for bed and Steve shook Tony gently awake “Me and Buck will take the kids to bed, go to sleep Stark,” he pulled Tony up to his feet before he picked Lizzie up carefully with ease while Bucky took Peter. Tony followed clumsily after them up to the penthouse and watched as they placed the kids in their rooms before nodding at the two in thanks and heading towards his own room to collapsing into bed next to Pepper feeling exhausted but also content.


	11. Chapter 11

Pepper received the email on snowy Thursday evening a week before they stopped for Christmas that Ms Crowson would be arriving just before the Christmas holidays. Lizzie and Peter would be home as they would of finished school for the holidays. She sighed and sent the email to Tony who was in the middle of a meeting.

“Friday could you show me what the kids are up to?” she asked and Friday brought up the live footage showing  Lizzie sat on Clint’s shoulders reaching up to put one of the baubles on the tree while Peter hung upside down from the ceiling, ignoring the instructions from Steve as he tried to place the star on top. Tony normally hated Christmas, it brought up too many memories that he wanted to forget. However, this year was the first time he had gone all out. Pepper knew he was juts using the excuse of having Peter and Lizzie in the tower and was using them as a distraction. He had brought 12 huge Christmas trees and since December they had spent the time decorating them a day at a time. The biggest one had been placed in the communal area where a steady pile of presents was forming. Pepper preferred this obsession to his old drinking problem. Pepper stood up from her desk and left for the lift “Take me down to the communal area Friday,” she ordered and the lift opened into the communal area.

“Hey Pepper.” Peter called from where he hung from the ceiling. He reached over as Clint moved to stand underneath him and grabbed Lizzie’s hand and lifted her off of Clint’s shoulders with ease let her hang from his arm as she reached the last branch. 

“Do not drop her,” Pepper warned and Peter rolled his eyes.

“Fun police much,” he muttered

“What did you just say?” Pepper warned her eyebrows raised and Peter looked terrified that she had heard him. 

“Nothing sorry Mo I mean Pepper” Peter stumbled, his cheeks glowing a bright red. He carefully dropped down from the ceiling pulling Lizzie with him and Pepper decided to ignore the slip up of him almost calling her Mom, that had been happening quite a bit recently. 

“I had the email,” Pepper announced to the room once they all turned to pay attention to her.

“When is she coming?” asked Bucky leaning on the couch behind where Steve was sat trying to untangle fairy lights.

“Monday,” Pepper said and watched in some amusement as everyone’s faces turned to serious expressions.

“Alright team, mission adoption is go!” Steve called and they all scattered from the room leaving Pepper confused and stood alone by the tree.

“Where did they go?” she asked out loud and Friday pulled up the footage of the team sat in Steve’s room having what looked like a strategy meeting with Lizzie and Peter nodding along with him “at least Steve’s running them and not Tony” she said amused. 

“Boss would not be the best,” Friday agreed.

~~~~

* * *

 

The weekend flew by and Monday morning at 11am Ms Crowson arrived on the doorstep to the tower. Tony went down to meet her and brought her straight up to the penthouse.

“Ms Potts” she shook Pepper’s hand and turned to Lizzie and Peter “you two must be Elizabeth and Peter” she said and they shook her hand.

“It’s nice to meet you ma’am” said Peter smiling charmingly and Tony rolled his eyes well aware that Steve and Pepper had drilled these two into being the most charming things anyone has ever met.

 “The tower is much better than the compound” Ms Crowson said “more like a home” Lizzie and Peter showed her to their rooms first commenting on school and clubs they had left any kit and work out so they could talk about it to impress her. Tony then took over chatting about the Avengers and the ones that lived the floor below.

“They are in and out quite a bit” he took her down to the communal floor which was empty aside from the Christmas tree they had even moved the presents. Ms Crowson nodded and made notes when Tony brought her back up she gestured to the office and that all of them should go in. They sat around Tony’s desk as best as they could.

“Okay” she looked up from the final bit of paperwork she scribbled on “you’re all good!” she said with a smile handing over what looked like a contract “you just need to sign and then these two are yours”.

“That’s it?” said Pepper surprised and she nodded.

“Your lawyers have done a lot of work on the inside but also I’m fully aware about these two situations” she gestured to Peter and Lizzie “They need a family and I think they have found one here” she said and they nodded in response. Ms Crowson filled away the last of the paperwork and Tony took her down when he came back up he saw Lizzie and Peter sat on the sofa both in some sort of shock.

“That’s it?” Peter asked when seeing Tony

“You’re our parents?” Lizzie asked. Tony nodded and the two of them shouted in excitement. Tony laughed as they pulled him and Pepper into a hug and all four of them jumped up and down like lunatics laughing.

 

* * *

 

The good mood remained in Stark Tower for Christmas. All of the Avengers arrived on Christmas Eve with gifts and Friday played Christmas music throughout the day and they went through the Christmas traditions of the Avengers. Bucky made cookies with Lizzie and Peter and Pepper taught them some carols in the living room which they then performed to the other Avengers with Sam who could carry a tune.

“I didn’t know you guys could sing!” Clint had said to them after they had applauded them and Lizzie shrugged,

“We got bored at the facility a lot and singing filled the time” she said. Then they played board games with Clint and Natasha while the rest of them got the food ready.

"Just 4 assassins playing Monopoly," Tony said to Pepper as they chopped potatoes over the intense shouting happening in the living room. Steve and Wanda’s tradition involved a huge cooked meal and tonight it was chicken pie and followed by pudding which was cheesecake. Wanda then gave out table presents which they opened and they all had small trinkets in to decorate their rooms.

“They’re just knick knacks” she said as Peter examined the spider model she had given him “thought they would make your room more homely”. They started the next tradition with Rhodey where they started to make their own baubles to go on the tree. Wanda and Bucky joined them and the five of them giggled and laughed on the floor as they painted the glass baubles and listened to Rhodey's stories about Tony when they had met at MIT. 

“They’re so cute,” Pepper murmured to Tony who nodded in agreement grinning as Wanda painted the tip of Peter’s nose with red he wrapped an arm around her.

“We’re doing well” he said and she nodded. Steve came back from tidying up the kitchen with Bruce and Natasha and came to stand with Bucky to look at what they were doing when a huge crack of thunder sounded and lightening flashed violently across the sky making Lizzie jump and spread a strip of black paint across her bauble. 

“The hell was that?” Peter asked

“Language,” Steve warned “and I believe that might be Thor,” he looked at Tony for confirmation and he nodded in response. 

“Thor?!!” Peter shouted in reply “oh my god I didn’t know he was coming, does he like Christmas?” he asked Steve at top speed who looked a little stunned

“Peter is a big Thor fanboy,” Lizzie whispered to the other Avenger’s and they smirked.

“Boss Thor is on his way down to the communal floor,” Friday interrupted and Peter scrambled to his feet quickly. 

“How do I look?” he asked the room running a hand through his curls that he had tamed with gel hoping that they were still flat. 

“I’m sure Thor will be blown away by your stunning looks” Lizzie said in a deadpan voice and Peter scowled at her. 

“You look fine kid, don’t worry,” Tony said coming to stand by Peter and pulling Lizzie over to him. The lift doors opened and Thor walked out. His long blonde hair slightly tangled and damp from the wind and snow outside. He was wearing his normal outfit and carrying Mjolnir along with a bag of what looked like present

“My friends!” he shouted to the room “I have come from Asgard to celebrate Christmas with you! It’s so good to see you all in good health and that we are all gathered here,” he smiled looking over them all. Steve and Bucky shook his hand and Bruce smiled at him with Wanda and Rhodey before Thor drew them into a large hug.

“Good to have you back man,” Clint clapped his shoulder “we need another person to play Mario Kart against Barnes,”

“I have heard great tales of your victories Barnes” he said to Bucky who shrugged in return “Stark” he greeted with a nod of his head which Tony returned. “Ms Potts and wait” he paused on seeing Lizzie and Peter and looked back again at Tony “Stark are you finally introducing us to your children?” he asked excitedly before bounding over and shaking Peter and Lizzie’s hand excitedly “They are so strong and handsome it’s so good to meet you children of Stark”.

“Calm down big guy, they aren’t biologically my children,” Tony said and Thor looked up surprised.

“But they look like you” he said gesturing at Peter to Tony.

“Same eye color maybe but that’s it” Tony said amused “they aren’t mine”

“Not biologically,” Rhodey added “but very much your kids” and Tony glared over at him while everyone else smiled. 

“I’m Lizzie and this is Peter,” Lizzie held her hand out to shake Thor’s hand again “Tony and Pepper adopted us a week ago and we’ve been living here since September,”

“Hello Lizzie and Peter” Thor smiled shaking their hands “I look forward to getting to know you more tonight while we battle it out on Mario Kart,” Lizzie and Peter grinned at this and tugged Thor over to the couch to play with Clint and Bucky.

“That went well,” Tony said to Pepper and she nodded

“I’m surprised that Peter was a fanboy of him,” she said it had been the most enthusiastic they had seen Peter outside of the lab. 

“It is Thor after all, the guy has lightning powers,” said Bruce watching as they group playing were shouting at each other while on rainbow road. While they played Tony went and got the team pjs in a tradition he had done with Jarvis where they wore matching pyjamas and watched films and drank hot chocolate with cream. Wanda and Rhodey helped him make it and when they came back in the game had finished and by the looks of it Lizzie had won as she was standing with a smile while Peter and Thor applauded her.

“Okay children let’s put the games away and carry on with our evening” Tony handed out the pyjamas “go and get into these” everyone scrambled to their rooms or toilets to get changed. The boys had red tartan bottoms and matching button up tops. Steve and Bucky looked like themselves from the 40’s when they walked out and Thor’s were slightly small for his long arms and legs but said how soft they were and how he liked them. Peter came out grinning giving Tony a hug.

“Thank you, they are so soft,” he said the girls then came back also wearing tartan bottoms but white t-shirts with the outline of a reindeer nose and antlers.

“What’s the first film” Steve asked as he and Bucky took over the love seat curling up under one of the blankets.

“I was thinking maybe starting off with The Snowman” Tony suggested and the others nodded. Pepper and Tony curled up together on the sofa and Rhodey and Bruce came to join them. Wanda and Vison shared the arm chair and Natasha took the other one. Clint grabbed the pillows from his room and they scattered them on the floor and he, Sam, Thor Peter and Lizzie took the floor.

“Friday play The Snowman” asked Tony and it started. Lizzie and Peter were like Steve and Bucky they had seen no or barely any Christmas movies so when The Snowman ended they put on Elf

“This one is more cheerful,” Clint said to them as he passed the tissues to Lizzie. (She wasn’t the only one that had cried along with Thor, Bruce, Wanda and Pepper “The snowman just left” Thor kept sobbing to Tony “why did he not return”). They all watched Elf and Tony took a moment to look at his family all snuggled together laughing at the film. If you had told him this would what his life would be like he would of laughed in your face but now he couldn’t be without it. When the film finished it was getting late and he pulled Pepper up and clapped Lizzie and Peter on the shoulder “Come on you two we will see everyone down here in the morning for presents” he said and they nodded saying goodnight to everyone before following Tony and Pepper into the lift. He watched them in the corridor as they slowly went around their room getting ready for bed “good night kids” he said and they both looked at him from their beds

“Good night Dad” they both said sleepily and Tony pulled away fighting to keep the smile off his face before running down the hall to tell Pepper.

 


End file.
